OPINION: A series of missteps and premature endorsements may cost democrats the Ohio senate seat

“Ohio U.S. Senate candidate Tim Ryan (D).” Photo by the Associated Press.

Bryce Hoehn is a senior studying political science and an opinion columnist for The New Political.

Please note that these views and opinions do not reflect those of The New Political.

Primary elections for this year's midterms are underway across the country. It’s the first midterm since Biden took office, and the results will likely reflect the country's opinions on his presidency. Considering the announcement that Sen. Rob Portman will not seek re-election and Democrats are hoping to flip the state, this senate race is shaping up to be one of the most important in the country.

The Republican primary has become particularly heated, with five Republicans still in the race. By contrast, the Democratic primary only has two viable candidates, Morgan Harper and Rep. Tim Ryan. However, Ryan has repeatedly refused to debate Harper, and many prominent party members have already endorsed Ryan. In a period of increasing mistrust in U.S. elections, it is a huge mistake for Democrats to get involved this early. Instead, the party should embrace increased transparency in their primary process by encouraging debates and withhold their endorsements until the people have voted.

Since last fall, Morgan Harper has challenged Tim Ryan to debate; she formally requested that the party host a series of six debates stretched across the months leading up to the primary. Ryan’s campaign rejected the request, citing that they wanted to wait until after the filing deadline for candidates had passed in February 2022. By contrast, Republicans have conducted debates and public forums since October. As Harper pointed out in her letter to the party, this decision gives Republicans a significant advantage in setting the public narrative. 

Harper also correctly pointed out that in 2017, the Ohio Democratic Party hosted a series of six debates for the gubernatorial primary election to establish a precedent. In protest of Ryan’s refusal to debate, Harper has twice circumvented the party by participating in debates against Josh Mandel, the frontrunner of the Republican primary. While some Democrats may find this controversial given Ryan’s refusal to debate, Harper was provided few opportunities to present a progressive counter to the far-right narrative that has dominated this election cycle.

Even now after the filing deadline has passed, Ryan continues to refuse her debate requests. In February, Tim Ryan announced that he will debate Harper, on the condition that he will only do so if all candidates who qualified for the ballot are present. This refers to Traci Johnson, a politically unknown candidate who just announced her campaign in January. The state then certified her campaign petition only days before Ryan made this announcement. While every candidate should be represented in debates, Ryan’s demand is almost certainly just a gesture to the Ohio Debate Commission in order to shift the blame for dodging debates. 

The ODC has a criteria for candidates to qualify, including polling at least 7.5%, having a minimum of $100,000 for their campaign and having more than 25 non-bot social media followers. While Ryan and Harper easily meet these qualifications, when Ryan made this demand, Johnson’s campaign finance report could not be located and she only had three Facebook followers, which disqualified her by the commission’s criteria.

On the same day that Ryan made his demand to the ODC, the Ohio Democratic Party officially voted to endorse Tim Ryan over Morgan Harper in the senate race. This follows several major endorsements from party officials, including Sen. Sherrod Brown’s endorsement of Ryan in the fall of last year. Again, this decision was made months before the primary and before a single debate between the candidates. 

For a party that has faced controversy in recent presidential primaries, been falsely accused of stealing the presidency and is currently trying to expand voting rights, the last thing Democrats should be doing is tipping the scales in this race. If the Democratic party wants to restore faith in U.S. elections, then they should set an example by increasing transparency in their own elections and stepping back to let the voters decide on the direction of the party.